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7/19/2017

It's midnight. Drops of paint on the floor. I am doing designs for VIDA.

I do design for myself. I want this clutch with eco-print!

Design For VIDA

Painting, drawing, planting, carving, photographing, I joined them all in my VIDA collection.

There are so much joy about creating the collection, because I can't simply take my sit and put paints on paper. I go to a forest to collect leaves, flowers, seed, thinking what kind of prints they can make on paper.

I picked up the best-looking designs for the clothes and bags which you may want to ware this summer.

The leaf makes an interesting print. It was picked up for the collection design.

Let's talk about what tools you need to start your fruit carving business. This question arrised from a blog's visitor. I will answer it and put my thoughts and recommendations here.

If you want to make some money from your fruit carving hobby, or you feel you are ready to turn it to a business, you need to make some investments. The main investment items for your fruit art business are:

* TOOLS and SUPPLIES

* SKILLS (will talk about it in the next article)

TOOLS AND SUPPLIES FOR FRUIT CARVING BUSINESS

I suppose that you already have tools and knives for carving. The question is about picking good tools those will serve you well. Because you will have to do lot of carving works as soon as you become receiving orders. The knives must be well sharpened and made of good metal, with a convenient handle. In other words the tools should be for professional using.

Tools producer

I recommend you to choose the professional tools I myself started with in 2007, Triangle Tool Set. The "Triangle" company is Germany based family company specialized on kitchen knives and supplies. Now they are known in Europe, Russia, the USA and Japan. You may come across the famous carving artists who use the Triangle knives for work, for classes and for fruit carving demo at the FOOD EXPOs. Some of my fruit art colleagues in the world have been contracted by the company to present the Triangle tools on TV and Internet.

Triangle carving tool set

I use Triangle tools and knives from the beginning of my fruit carving career back in 2007. I use the tools for making my fruit arrangements. To me, the Triangle tools give lots of inspiration and possibilities to create. I implement a teaching method based on the tools usage.

THE RESUME: With the Triangle tools you are able to create worth watermelon carving designs, nice and neat fruit and vegetable carving centerpieces at the money-making level.

Types of knives

I will give you a list of tools and knives you need for fruit carving business.

1. Thai knife. This is a name for a specially designed type of knife used for Thai carving. Thai knife is a basic must-have tool.

2. U-knife and V-knife. The knives are called after the shape they have. These knives do U and V cuts on a watermelon or other product, usually used for carving different types of flowers and designs when combined. These kind of knives is produced in different sizes. Can be wavy as well. Must-have knives.

3. Melon baller. This is a name for a tool that looks like a ball spoon for icecreame, but smaller. The tool carves balls out of watermelon, melon, papaya, apples, kiwi, vegetable, butter and many other products you can try this tool on. The tool is produced in different size ranges. A must-have tool.

5. Paring knife. A big paring knife is necessary for cutting massive fruits as watermelon, melon, pumpkin. I recommend you to have a big and small paring knives for different types of fruit.

6. Peeler. A must-have tool to skin fruits and vegetables and make simple garnishes.

7. Toothpicks and skewers. You will need them to provide a secure attachment of the details in your carving displays, fruit bouquets and other edible arrangements.

This is the list of the must-have tools in my kit. If you look through the blog posts with my fruit carving displays you will find the notices about using tools for the certain carving designs.

There are more extra tools you may want to have and of course you need them too, are slicers, spiral slicers, cookie cutters etc.

Supplies For Fruit Carving Displaying

Depending on your fruit carving business idea you will need a number of kitchenware supply. To understand what kind of kitchenware you really need for your fruit business I would suggest you to think about two things:

How you are going to present your fruit creations

Where you can get the enough amount of the supplies

A fruit bouquet maker may need a number of baskets and flower pots to arrange fruit bouquets in.

If you make fruit carving arrangements for events as wedding receptions, baby showers and birthdays, and your fruit creations are supposed to be displayed at the head table or fruit/candy bar, you may need to have glass or wooden stands, vases and kind of fruit holders, in order to set up things nicely at different heights, and to save space on the table.

I know that it's good for business to have the necessary things available any time when you need them. I also know that fruit carving business depends on many things like a season, market demand, economic situation, and finally it depends on your entrepreneur skills and your wish to be in the business.

I don't think it's a good idea to buy a large batch of the kitchenware in the beginning of your business to make a provision for years. I recommend you to find a solution with kitchenware suppliers, shops or stores where you can buy a small amount of the suitable platters, vases and holders at good price.

For example, I used to use the special watermelon plates with pins for watermelon carvings and fruit sculptures. The plates allows a secure transportation of the fruit displays. Later I found another solution and started using cake stands for watermelons and disposable cake cardboards for fruit platters.

The Final Word

A good professional tool set helps you create professionally looking carving displays and garnishes.
A good knife is your reliable business partner.
Be wise in spending money, buy good tools which you will use for years (I use my Triangle tool set for 10 years already).
Have some extra new tools to sell at the exhibitions and during carving demo. It is a good business.

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7/12/2017

The Peony Kiss

What seems to me special about Ikebana Sogetsu is how the plant materials are arranged in a vase in incredible positions.
There is a system of crossed and splitted stems that allows the branches lay in a certain way.

The flower's stems are shorten for this securing technique. That makes the total look of composition floating in air.

I called the arrangement "The Peony Kiss", not just because I love the flowers, but also for the blessing of my Floral Angel and inspiration sent to my way for creating this.

The other composition makes the vertical line with the same wood branch. The branch with a mass on the top like the one on the photo will fall down from this position when simply put in a vase. The secure system makes the impossible things possible.

These Ikebana compositions with peony show how how to arrange heavy flowers in a tall vase.

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7/10/2017

I am a person who say "YES" to the new opportunities.

When I was approached by VIDA, a global design company, with an invite to combine my art with fashion, I concluded they might be daring and innovative ones. What? Wearing a fruit buffet image in your clothing? Wait, I do different arts. Maybe I can come up with my paintings and floral designs?

VIDA is a San Francisco based, well-doing start-up ventured by Google, providing digital printing on fabric with using original art pieces of photographers, artists, sculptors and crafters. The company's CEO has a big dream for improving lives of the artists and factory workers who produce the fabric and clothing.
The idea of bringing together the art and commerce looks very attractive.

My First Collection

I sent some paintings to design studio to figure out if we could match. And BINGO, my rose painting designs were approved. My first collection of soft pillows has been launched on ShopVida website!
Some of my Net friends and test group have received the collection announcement. So I could get a feedback.

This all made me want to create a summer collection done specially for VIDA, with bags, clutches and scarves.

Now I am working on a collection based on my fruit carving sketches which I do for watermelon carvings and fruit sculptures. I am so excited to see what my hand can draw.

It Is Time For Fruit Chic Fashion

I did some fruit paintings for the Summer Collection and got them printed on the bags and clutches. It will become an amazing and playful addition to your look. I sure these designs will suit a woman in any place in the world from Sidney to New York and from Siberia to Brasilia.

Accessorize with this bag for a statement look that turns heads and sparks conversations - around town or across the world.

VIDA gives free shipping on the first order and varoius promotions each month and on holidays. Take your chance to shop the uniquely designed accessories for a good price.

Custom Orders

If you want me create a special design for you, I am ready to do that. Feel free to e-mail me or send a message to Facebook account. I am open for creating on custom orders, dealing with buyers and shops, and I am also open for collaborating with the other VIDA designers on making "guest" collections, supporting items or whatever your idea is.

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7/03/2017

Sogetsu Ikebana is a floral arranging art popular worldwide. For now Ikebana art has become modern and based on the main principles of design. At our Ikebana class we learn the floral and overall design related things together with the classical Ikebana rules.
I thank our teacher Alexandra Kudryshova for sharing the passion and gifts with us, and for letting us to create and do magic with flowers.

Task #1 - Expression

What do you express with your floral composition? It can be a feeling, a thought, and a status. You can explain with the flowers yourself, your inner world or a global thing.

At the lesson we got a task to express a rain.

Most of us connect flowers with joy and rain with melancholy. So to our group the task looked "unexciting" and bit difficult as well. As for me, I like rain. I like the sound and scent of rain, I look more attractive in raining weather :) As for feeling, I can feel a joy and sadness at the same time, and have them changed fast. So the rain is a time to have a fan to myself.

This is what our teacher has expressed about the rain. A long Iris leaf makes a curvy line. It comes out of a round ceramic vase. The tip of the leaf point to a cup of water. The teacher has also added a tear on the leaf's tip to stress the rain related theme.

The rain themed Ikebana composition

This is what I see about raining. I called the arrangement "Born In The Rain". Curved and deformed stems of Allium (decorative onion) explain that the plant was raised in an uncomfortable environment. There a crying stem was added to stress the rain theme.

Task #2 - Placing

The next task was to find a place in the room for your Ikebana arrangement. We placed them on a floor, on desks, on a window. As we engaged a meeting room in an office center for our classes, there were fire-safe and electrical things in the walls. I found that my arrangement fits well this kind of boxes. The floral arrangement brings a harmony to the corner. Ikebana can be a part of the technical equipment.

This is how the Ikebana arrangement suits the office interior.

Task #3 - Usage of materials and sources

This is the main principle of Ikebana art - using the local seasonal plants, using the available sources. In other words use what you have right now. And make it look beautiful.

Studying the Ikebana art helps me to accept the life as it is. Of course it makes me skillful in designing too. See how Ikebana skills allow me to decorate events:

About Garnishfood Blog

Hi, I am Elena, also known as Selena Ze Arteest. I am a designer, fruit carving artist and owner of Caving Studio since 2007. GarnishFood blog is about the art of Thai carving and edibe arrangements made of vegetables, fruits and sweets. Recently I am keen on Ikebana art and phytodesign.